<< YCBA Home Yale Center for British Art Yale Center for British Art << YCBA Home

YCBA Collections Search

 
IIIF Actions
Creator:
William Blake, 1757–1827
Title:

The Poems of Thomas Gray, Design 65, "The Bard."

Additional Title(s):

Verso: The Poems of Thomas Gray, Design 66, "The Fatal Sisters."

Part Of:

Collective Title: The Poems of Thomas Gray

Date:
between 1797 and 1798
Medium:
Watercolor with pen and black ink and graphite on moderately thick, slightly textured, cream wove paper with inlaid letterpress page
Dimensions:
Sheet: 16 1/2 x 12 3/4 inches (41.9 x 32.4 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:

Inscribed in black ink upper right: "13"; in graphite center: "x"; on verso in black ink upper center: "The Fatal Sisters | 1. The Three Fatal Sisters | 2. A Muse | 3. Sigtryg with the Silken beard | 'Persons of Horseback riding full speed toward | a hill & seeming to Enter into it' | 5. Iron sleet of arrowy shower | Hurtles in the darkend air' | 6. 'Shafts for shuttle dipd in gore | Shoot the trembling cords along' | 7. 'We the reins to Slaughter give' | 8. The Fatal Sisters riding thro the Battle. they | are called in Some Northern poems | 'Choosers of the Slain' | 9 'Hurry Hurry to the field' | 10. A Battle."

Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1992.8.11(33)
Classification:
Drawings & Watercolors
Collection:
Prints and Drawings
Subject Terms:
branches | cliff | clouds | goats | grass | harp | literary theme | man | men | mountains | ocean | religious and mythological subject | sheep | shepherd | sitting | sky | text | trees | water
Access:
Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
Note: The Study Room is open by appointment. Please visit the Study Room page on our website for more details.
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:3656
Export:
XML
IIIF Manifest:
JSON

Thomas Gray’s poem “The Bard,” published in 1757, imagines a confrontation between the English conqueror Edward I and the last bard of Wales. Edward has ordered the Welsh bards put to death in order to suppress their telling of history. The Bard curses Edward and prophesies his ultimate defeat upon the return of Welsh rule, before throwing himself into the river Conway, a final act of defiance. The poem became extremely popular, helping to create an idea of Welsh mountains as synonymous with liberty.

In 1797 and 1798, the visionary artist William Blake created a series of exquisite illustrations to accompany Gray’s text. Some of the most vivid images highlight the narrative trajectory of the poem. The title page presents a composed Bard, draped in robes and holding his harp. As the poem progresses, the Bard develops a frenetic energy, his hair wild and his eyes lit with passion. The final page shows the Bard, barely colored, almost a force of nature, committing suicide in the Conwy.

Gallery label for Art in Focus: Wales (Yale Center for British Art, 2014-04-04 - 2014-08-10)

Art in Focus : Wales (Yale Center for British Art, 2014-04-04 - 2014-08-10) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Colin Cross, Blake revealed, William Blake : Discovery of a Masterwork , Observer, vol. 12, November 21, 1971, pp. 19-23, V 1245 Detached from Observer colour magazine [ORBIS]

John Russell, Blake the Craftsman, Art , Sunday Times, Issue no. 7749, December 12, 1971, p. 27, Sunday Times Digital Archive [ORBIS]

Arnold Fawcus, Unknown Watercolours by William Blake, Illustrated London News, vol. 259, No. 6881, December 25, 1971, pp. 45-46, 49-51, Illustrated London News Historical Archive [ORBIS]

Yale Center for British Art, Wales, New Haven, 2014, pp. 14, 21, V2519 (YCBA) [YCBA]


If you have information about this object that may be of assistance please contact us.